Petersen v. Petersen
| Decision Date | 22 February 1960 |
| Docket Number | No. 41358,41358 |
| Citation | 238 Miss. 190,118 So.2d 300 |
| Parties | Donald F. PETERSEN v. Doris N. PETERSEN. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Robertshaw & Mansour, Greenville, for appellant.
Farish, Keady & Campbell, Greenville, for appellee.
On September 19, 1958, the appellee, Doris N. Petersen, filed her original bill in the Chancery Court of Washington County against her husband, Donald F. Petersen, seeking a divorce from her said husband upon the grounds of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment, the custody and support of two minor children born of the marriage, counsel fees, and other relief. The appellant wholly denied the right of the appellee to any relief. The testimony is voluminous and we shall not undertake to detail it further than may be necessary to a proper disclosure and understanding of the issues involved.
The parties were married in Napa, California on April 21, 1944. Sometime thereafter they acquired a residence in Washington County, Mississippi, where at the time of the institution of this suit the appellant had been employed by the Tennessee Gas Transmission Company for about fourteen years. They owned as tenants in common a home in Washington County which the appellant had acquired through a GI loan, and on which there was a deed of trust securing a balance of $5,946 on which payments accrued at the rate of approximately $62 per month. The appellee was employed by Reed Joseph in Greenville at a salary of $54 per week, from which her take home pay was approximately $47 per week. The salary of the appellant was from $500 to $550 per month, from which his take home pay amounted to approximately $350. The appellant had acquired 596 shares of the capital stock of the Tennessee Gas Transmission Company. The appellee claimed one-half of this stock as a gift from her husband. The stock was originally issued in the name of the appellant but was reissued by direction of the appellant to the appellant and appellee as joint tenants with the right of survivorship. The appellant contested the right of the appellee to one-half of this stock, and during the progress of this proceeding, placed the stock in the hands of his counsel and thereby rendered the same unavailable to the appellee. A dividend check issued on the stock in the amount of $208.60 was likewise withheld from the appellee by the appellant and placed in the custody of his counsel, which rendered it unavailable to the appellee during the progress of this proceeding.
According to the proof as found to be true by the chancellor, the appellee was without means available to her to provide counsel fees except her salary which was, according to the finding of the chancellor, insufficient to support the appellee and to provide such counsel fees.
The proof for the appellee on the issue of the right of the appellee to a divorce which proof was manifestly accepted by the chancellor, showed that the appellant over a period of months had been guilty of habitual cruel and inhuman treatment of the appellee in that the appellant had on several occasions slapped the appellee; on one occasion had given her a black eye; on another occasion had hit her on the head with the butt of a shotgun causing her hospitalization for about a week; had threatened to kill her and the children, and had repeatedly over a period of months made false accusations of infidelity, charging her with running around with other men and particularly with adultery with one Clarence Sims, causing the appellee to become a 'nervous wreck' and to be apprehensive of further physical harm and violence if she continued to live with him.
The appellant admitted that he had slapped the appellee on one occasion, and had hit her on the head with a shotgun, and had accused her of infidelity and running around with other men, and of adultery with one Clarence Sims, but he claimed that he was provoked to this action by the improper conduct of the appellee.
On September 25, 1958, a vacation hearing was had on the issue of the temporary custody and support of the children. This hearing resulted in the rendition of a decree awarding the temporary custody of the children to the appellee and directing that the appellant pay to the appellee until the further orders of the court for the support and maintenance of the children the sum of $150 per month, subject to the following provisions:
'Provided, however, that if the complainant receives one-half of the dividend check of Tennessee Gas Transmission Company, which is in the total amount of $208.60, and further receives one-half of the proceeds of the sale of 46 shares of the capital stock of said company, then the defendant shall be relieved of any further responsibility for making such monthly payment to complainant for the support and maintenance of said children until a further hearing in this cause.' The final hearing of the cause was then set for November 10, 1958. On that date a consent decree was entered providing as follows: 'It is therefore ordered, adjudged and decreed that pending a final hearing of this cause, the complainant, Doris N. Petersen, shall retain the temporary custody of said two minor children; that the defendant, Donald F. Petersen, be and he is hereby directed to pay to the complainant on the first day of each month hereafter, beginning on the 1st day of December 1958, and until further order of this court, the sum of $150 for the temporary support and maintenance of said minor children. * * *' The final hearing of the cause was then continued to the March 1959 term of the court.
On the final hearing of the cause the court rendered its decree awarding to the appellee a divorce and the permanent custody of the two children, directing appellant to pay $100 per month for the support of said children, $450 in arrears under the decree of November 10, 1958, and $400 as counsel fees. The final decree of the chancellor further adjudged the appellee to be the owner of one-half of the aforesaid stock of the Tennessee Gas Transmission Company,...
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McLean v. Green, 46525
...delivered by the donor, and accepted by the donee; the gift must be gratuitous; and the gift must be irrevocable. Petersen v. Petersen, 238 Miss. 190, 118 So.2d 300 (1960), citing 38 C.J.S. Gifts § 10, p. 786 (1943). Maier v. Hill, 221 Miss. 120, 72 So.2d 209 (1954); Allison v. Allison, 203......
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McKinney v. Hamp
...continued, monthly, child-support payments to provide support for the child during the pendency of an appeal. Petersen v. Petersen , 238 Miss. 190, 118 So.2d 300, 304 (1960). In Petersen , the chancellor entered a decree awarding monthly, child-support payments but stated that such payments......
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Bishop v. United States
...not of law. Secondly, Keyes involved questions arising during the lifetime of the co-owners. Such is not the case in the action sub judice. Petersen affords plaintiff little comfort. Petersen, like Keyes involved a divorce action and the award of alimony and counsel fees to the wife. The ev......